Effective response leads to quick cancellation of Amber Alert after infant located safe near Springfield

An amber alert was issued and quickly cancelled last night for a five-month-old child near Springfield. The baby was in a car stolen from a convenience store in Rogersville.

A relative of the infant said she entered the store for two minutes, and came out to find the vehicle missing. The car was located with the baby safe after a person reported seeing the vehicle nearby in Ozark. Police are still looking for the driver.

The Greene County Sheriff’s Department cancelled the Amber Alert for five-month-old Carol A. Day shortly after 9 p.m., about 20 minutes after it issued the alert.

Springfield was the location where a failure in the Amber Alert system was linked to the murder and rape of a 10-year-old girl in 2014. State Representative Curtis Trent of Springfield is offering legislation known as Hailey’s Law in the 2018 General Assembly.

Trent has said the Amber Alert system has vastly improved since the 2014 incident, but is sponsoring the measure to ensure those upgrades are preserved over the long term.